200. XY Chelsea; movie review

XY CHELSEA
Cert 15
93 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, suicide references

"Every step I take is on thin ice," says Chelsea Manning during this biopic and she has been proven to be right.
Manning is the bete noire of the American right - a transgender truth-sayer.
Before coming out as Chelsea, Bradley Manning, a United States military intelligence officer released documents to Wikileaks revealing horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It was said that the documents endangered undercover operatives in Afghanistan - an accusation denied by Manning.
Regardless, she was jailed for 35 years but was released after Barack Obama decided that the sentence was too heavy.
Tim Travers Hawkins' film captures Manning after her prison stretch and tries to elicit answers from a subject who admits that her mental health has been damaged by her life experience.

Indeed, in her words, jail time left her "institutionalised".
Nevertheless, it follows her campaigning for more transparency in government and even fighting for a place in the Senate.
All of this takes place while she is constantly looking over her shoulder.
Manning is a difficult character and, therefore, even though she may be a libertarian flag-waver, it is difficult to connect with her during XY Chelsea.
Of course, her high-maintenance is understandable, given the effects of the pressure of incarceration and being at the centre of a political maelstrom.
But her bad behaviour towards her team of supporters is a considerable turn-off.
Indeed, I spent much of the movie inwardly pleading with her "don't do that" as much for her own sanity as theirs.

Reasons to watch: One of the world's big news stories from the inside
Reasons to avoid: Chelsea Manning is a difficult personal subject on several levels 

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? At first, Manning reached out to The Washington Post and The New York Times in an attempt to release classified documents but she was rebuffed. From there, she utilised an anonymising network to submit the information to WikiLeaks.

The final word. Tim Travers Hawkins: "I don’t think Chelsea’s story is over, by any means, even though the film is. The arc that we captured shows a story of progression and, in many tragic senses, a return to where we were in the beginning — it begins with Chelsea in prison, and it ends with Chelsea in prison." Out.com

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